Wheeled walkers serving as walking aids for people with limited mobility are well known in the air. They enable the users to run every day errands. They do not only help to avoid falls of people with limited mobility, but they also enable the people to safely transport loads like everyday shop purchases. In particular, people that need more assistance than a classic cane would provide but who would be severely limited in their mobility by a wheelchair gain an increased range through the wheeled walker.
Depending on their mobility limitation or required range it can be very hard for people to move with the wheeled walker. Several options for an electric drive have been proposed in the prior art. Thus, EP 2 451 423 B1 discloses a walker with a trailing platform which includes an electric motor drive. A user can step on the platform and start the drive. The wheeled walker and the user are then moved forward by the electric motor drive. The platform disclosed in EP 2 451 423 B1 is raisable into a storage position by the electric motor drive.
DE 10 2007 062 406 B4 also discloses a wheeled walker with an electric drive. Also here the transport platform runs in trail wherein a separate drive wheel is arranged at the wheeled walker to provide forward propulsion.
DE 20 2013 007 716 U1 illustrates a trailing device for strollers which however can also be used for a wheeled walker according to the description. The embodiment is characterized in particular in that a steerable wheel is arranged in a steering center of the combination that includes the wheeled walker and the attached transport platform.
DE 20 2016 002 904 U1 also shows a walker with an electrical drive. The electrical drive is again a trailing device that is attached at an axis between the rear wheels of the wheeled walker.
Last not least, there are DE 103 55 161 A1 and DE 10 2005 024 613 A1 which disclose electrically driven trailing devices for strollers and shopping carts.
All the known devices have in common that the trailing device that is attached to the wheeled walker, stroller or shopping cart includes a standing surface for a person, so that the person and the leading device (stroller, shopping cart, wheeled walker) are propelled by the electric drive.
Devices of this type are particularly advantageous for people with limited mobility which have to go up slopes or cannot reach a destination without a break due to exhaustion unless they have an electro motoric auxiliary drive.
The presented solutions are typically configured as retrofits. Partially the trailing devices can be moved into a storage position when they are not being moved or they can be removed from the walker.